Thursday, September 12, 2013

On Whether The Packers Should Bench McMillian and Start Banjo

His game against the 49ers was bad, awful, and he has to improve. It might mean that the Green Bay Packers will bench rookie safety Jerron McMillian.
This discussion might be irrelevant because S Morgan Burnett was limited in practice on Wednesday and he might be able to play on Sunday. His return would mean a change in McMillian's role anyway. However, the 49ers game might have been a long-term sign that McMillian isn't meant to play deep safety and he's better off as a nickel/slot defender.

If Burnett isn't ready to go, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Packers bench McMillian, though it wouldn't mean the Packers are giving up on him. In 2011, M.D. Jennings had a lousy game against the 49ers at Lambeau in week 1, he lost track of WR Randy Moss who was wide open for a touchdown, and he didn't play a lot over the following couple of weeks. But then Charles Woodson broke his collerbone and Jennings finished up the regular season as the starter.

The concern is that S Chris Banjo isn't any better. He was recently released by the Jaguars which is not a good sign. While he had a strong preseason, it came against backups. His promotion would be a roll of the dice and it might work out, but I expect the coaches are considering everything they've seen from both players over the past several weeks without focusing exclusively on just one game.

So I wouldn't be surprised to see a change, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them keep McMillian ahead of him either. That's not a helpful conclusion, but I don't know what the coaching staff thinks about each player and I wouldn't be disappointed to see them go with either player.

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